Important: This chapter was a killer to write so to clear some things up, since these character may be confusing and some character seems to pop up from no where: (clarification):

Aoshi and Kaoru are pure siblings, both with last name of Kamiya. (Shinomori Aoshi does not exist there…sorry)

Akira (Kiyosato) is their cousin, related to their mother side.

Uncle Kiyosato: um… not Akira's father, just an uncle to all three, Aoshi, Kaoru and Akira.

Uncle Shinomori: a direct uncle of Aoshi and Kaoru though he doesn't live near them.

Sanosuske: remember chapter 2 or was it 3? He meets Kaoru in High school as a transfer student who's one of her first friends there.

Soujiro is cousin to Akira on Akira's father side, thus not related to Kaoru at all.

FIRST UPDATE OF THE YEAR 2006!

Chapter 9:
Hatred III

I walked along the streets towards my car, furiously wiping away my tears. I bleeped my car open and got in, closing my eyes and resting my head on the steering wheel. After composing myself, I revved up the engine, stepped on the accelerator and guided my car to Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Corporations.

I swerved into one of the parking spaces specially reserved for the President and the directors of the corporation. The security guard made his way towards me, no doubt telling me to park elsewhere, just as I was getting out of my car.

"Miss, you can't park here," he says.

"Mou, don't you remember me?" I ask, flashing him a grin. He took a good look at me and his jaw dropped open when recognition finally dawned on him.

"Miss Kamiya, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you," he answered, bowing slightly.

"It's alright. No harm done. You were just doing your job."

I walked up the steps and entered the large building. The insides of the building were impressively done, with marble floors and glass windows. Right in the center of the concourse floor was a water fountain, and if you were to tilt your head upwards, you would be able to see outside, through the skylight. I headed towards the elevators and pressed the button for the 36th floor. When the doors shut themselves, I closed my eyes and leaned against the walls. What was I going to tell the guys?

I walked up to Aoshi's secretary's desk, only to find that she was nowhere in sight. Not bothering to wait for her to return, I made my way over to Aoshi's room and knocked on his door softly. After a few more knocks and still no reply from him, I pushed the doors open slowly, only to find that the room was empty. I closed them behind me, and made myself comfortable in his tastefully decorated room.

After what seemed like hours, I had finished off more than three cups of coffee and read every single magazine that Aoshi has in his room. Due to my boredom, I had even gone to the extent of arranging all his files and documents in alphabetical order. I was sitting in his chair playing solitaire on his laptop when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Before I could even move a muscle, the doors flung open and Aoshi stood there, frozen at the sight of me.

"Hey, Aoshi!" I say, getting up from his chair and bouncing over to him. "Surprised?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, delighted.

"Long story. I'll explain later."

Just then, a middle-aged man entered the room. He took one look at me and grinned.

"Crystal studded hair clips. You must be Miss Kamiya Kaoru."

"Uncle Kiyosato!" I cried, running over to him to give him a hug. "It's been so long since I last saw you!"

"That's true. So, how have you been?" he asks, leading me over to the couches, with Tae following suit.

"Fine, thanks!"

"Aoshi's been telling me a lot of things about you."

"No doubt, all the bad stuff," I say, pinching Aoshi lightly on the arm.

Uncle Kiyosato is probably one of the closest people to me, after dad died. I have always looked up to him as a fatherly figure because he always took great care of both Aoshi and I after that fateful day. Whenever we had problems or anything, he would always be there to listen to us and help us find the solution.

"Well, I did hear from him that you were going to attend the dinner this Friday," he says, smiling at me, "with a certain someone."

I could feel myself blushing. "I might not go after all. Some things have come up. Which reminds me, how come you gave Aoshi an invitation but you never gave me one?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I did invite you! If you actually bothered to look at the card, you would see that it's addressed to Mr. Kamiya Aoshi and Ms. Kamiya Kaoru. And I don't care what your reasons are, I want to see you at the dinner this Friday. No excuses."

I pouted. "What if I still don't go?"

"Then I'll come and personally drag you there," he says, laughing.

After Uncle Kiyosato had left, we made our way towards Akira and Soujiro's room, which were also located on the same floor. Then, all four of us piled into Aoshi's car and we sped off to a nearby café.

"How come you got off from work so early?" asks Soujiro, blowing at his cup of cappuccino.

"You guys told me to get off from work early today!"

"When I meant early, I didn't mean at around 2 o'clock! I was thinking more to 4.30!" replies Soujiro.

I giggled. "Oh well."

"So, Kaoru, why did you tell Uncle Kiyosato that you might not be attending the dinner?" asks Aoshi.

At his words, both Akira and Soujiro dropped whatever they were eating and stared intently at me.

"Oh, um, something came up."

"Which is?" Aoshi prodded. "Don't even think of trying to lie to me, little sis."

I let out a frustrated sigh, and told them everything. From me getting framed, to my suspension from work and my suspicions of who could have done it.

"I knew something like this was going to happen," says Soujiro, biting into his sushi crossly.

"Why didn't you tell her who you were? If you did, I'm sure she'd swallow her words in an instant. You have more money than she could ever hope make in her whole lifetime. In fact, I'm sure you could buy a million of those watches and still have enough money left over for three generations!" says Akira.

I lobbed a crumpled up tissue paper at Akira. "Come on, you guys, lighten up. It's no big deal. I mean I know I didn't do it. And the truth is bound to come out sooner or later."

All this while, Aoshi had been sitting quietly, thinking to himself. "I would personally like to meet this Tomoe girl. But don't worry, I won't do anything to her. I just want to know what she really is like," he added quickly after seeing my expression. "Anyway, don't think you're going to be able to weasel out of this dinner. Uncle Kiyosato is really hoping that you would be there and you don't want to let him down, do you? Besides, Akira and Soujiro got invitations too and it would be great if we could all go together. Alright, Kaoru?"

I bit my bottom lip and thought for a while, then nodded my head slowly, bringing a smile to their faces.

"I would like to try on that pale yellow dress with the crystal studded butterfly in the left corner," says Tomoe.

"Oh, that dress has already been bought by someone else, miss," the sales girl replied.

"What? But it's just hanging over there, behind the counter!"

"Someone has reserved it. He'll be coming to collect it later."

"Do you have another dress similar to that one?"

"I'm sorry, miss. That dress is the only one that we have. It's one of a kind. Nobody else has it."

"You don't understand," snapped Tomoe. "I have a dinner this evening and I want that dress."

"I'm sorry but we can't do anything about it. Why don't you try on a different dress?" asks the sales girl helpfully.

"I don't want to try on any other dress. I want that one!" she pouted and complained.

Just then, the little bell hanging over the door jingled, and a tall, good-looking man stepped into the store. He gave Tomoe a small smile, then turned towards the sales girl.

"Is the dress ready yet?" he asks.

"Yes, sir. If you would just give me a few minutes while I wrap it up for you," replies the girl, rushing to the back of the counter, and taking the dress off its hangers.

"Look, mister, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am but I was just wondering, would it be alright if you bought another dress? I have a formal function tonight and I really want that dress that you're buying," says Tomoe, putting on a sweet smile.

He turned to look at her with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't do that. You see, I'm buying this dress for a very special person. After everything that had happened to her over the past few days, I'm sure she would be really pleased to receive this dress."

"I'll pay you more than what you paid for the dress," she pleaded.

"No can do, miss. I'm sorry," he says, paying for the dress, then turned on his heel and walked out of the store, as Tomoe stared after him in disgust.

"Kaoru! I'm home!" yelled Aoshi, as I bounded down the stairs to greet him.

"Oooooooh, what have you got in that bag?"

"Your dress," he says, handing the carrier bag over to me.

I took the box out of the bag and opened it. "Mou," I breathed. "It's beautiful."

It really was beautiful. It was pale yellow with crystal-studded butterflies in one corner. It is held up by two thin straps and fell about in soft folds just slightly above the knees.

"Now, we'll just have to call Shishio(haha I know I know!) over to help get your hair and make-up done," says Aoshi, smiling at me.

Ever since Shishio was in a tragic accident where his car blew up, his face been destroyed along with the rest of his body. He didn't care though, it just made him in love playing with other girl's faces. Actually, to think of it, he's a pretty famous designer.

I winced. "Must we?"

"Yup!" he says, reaching for his cell phone.

Moments later, Shishio had arrived with a crew of six people, carrying kits of all kinds. He sat me down on a chair and draped a large black cloth, which covered me from my neck downwards.

"Wait, Shishio!" I yell, lifting my hand up. "Before you do anything to me, I just want to tell you three things that you cannot do to my hair. No cutting, no coloring and no perming. Deal?"

He pushed my head to the side gently. "Spoilsport."

As he went about fixing my hair, his crew of people applied make-up on me, gave me a manicure and a pedicure. I felt rather pampered at all the attention given to me. After an hour, they stood back to let me look at myself in the mirror. I was pretty surprised at my reflection. I didn't look that bad after all. They had applied very faint make-up, giving me a very natural look. My hair was stylishly made up, with sprinkles of glitter over them. One of the crew had gone through my jewelry case and had chosen a pair of silver hoop earrings to clasp onto my ear. I turned to look at Shishio who was grinning at me, and gave him the thumbs up.

Next, Aoshi ushered me into my room to put on the dress. I slipped it on and found that it was a perfect fit. The dress was made of a very smooth and silky material, which clung to my body like second skin, accentuating all my curves. After I was done, I opened the door to find the guys already dressed up in their own tuxedos and were leaning against the wall, waiting for me to come out.

"How do I look?" I ask, giving them a little twirl.

"Wonderful."

"Fabulous."

"Beautiful."

I grinned at them. "Thanks! Let's go."

We spent another ten minutes picking out my shoes, finally deciding on a pair of black strapped heels. When we were all ready, we piled into two different cars, me and Aoshi in one, and Akira and Soujiro in the other. Not before long, we pulled up at the entrance of the hotel.

I held on to Aoshi's arm as we entered the hall for the cocktail party. To say I was nervous was putting it mildly. I, for one, was definitely not looking forward to meeting Kenshin here. His accusing words still rang over and over again in my head whenever I thought about the incident. And I still had the impossible task of informing everyone who knew me to pretend that I was not Kamiya Aoshi's sister. I groaned slightly.

"Kamiya Aoshi! Kaoru! You guys made it. And so did Akira and Soujiro," says Uncle Kiyosato, making his way towards us, a smile on his face. He took a step backwards and surveyed me from head to toe. "You look beautiful, Kaoru."

I could feel my cheeks getting hot. "Thanks, Uncle Kiyosato. You don't look too bad either."

He laughed. "Make yourselves comfortable alright? I'll be with you in a second."

"Oh, Uncle Kiyosato, there's a favor that I would like to ask from you," I say, twisting my fingers.

"What is it, dear?"

"Um, could you, like, pretend that Aoshi and I are not brothers and sisters?"

"Why?" he asks, bewildered.

"You see, I'm working for the Hiten Mitsurugi Corporations now to gain experience and I don't really want the President finding out that I'm the sister of the President of Kasshin Kamiya Ryu Corporations. It would just complicate matters. So, would you help me? Pretty please?"

He shook his head and sighed. "I should have known that you were going to do something like this. Alright, I'll do it. And don't worry about the other people who might recognize you. I'll fill them in about the whole thing."

I gave him a relieved smile. "Thanks, Uncle Kiyosato. I owe you one."

"Now, you guys go ahead and enjoy yourselves tonight. You and I both know that you all need it," he says and all of us nodded our heads at him.

"Presenting, Mr. Kamiya Aoshi, Ms. Kamiya Kaoru, Mr. Kiyosato Akira and Mr. Seta Soujiro," came the emcee's voice as we descended the stairs to the ballroom. (A/N You would think they would realize Aoshi and Kaoru was related, but lets pretend Kamiya was a popular surname.)

Oh my God. This is so embarrassing. I could feel my face flush as everyone turned around to look at us. Why does Uncle Kiyosato have to hire someone to announce your presence? I lifted my gaze up from the floor when we reached the bottom of the stairs and scanned the room.

"Aoshi and Kaoru, how have you been?" says a voice behind us. We both whirled around simultaneously.

"Uncle Shinomori!" I say, giving him a hug as Aoshi smiled and shook his hand.

"What's this I hear about us having to pretend that you, Kaoru, is not related to Aoshi, but you're supposed to be his friend at this dinner?"

"Oh, Uncle Kyosato told you already?"

"Yes, he did. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, he went around murmuring that in everybody's ears. Assuming a double identity, eh, Kaoru?"

I gave a little laugh. "Kinda."

Just then, the emcee's voice boomed across the whole ballroom, telling us to sit down at our assigned tables because the dinner was about to start. The four of us made our way towards our table, which happened to be one of the VVIP tables, located in the front. We finally spotted it and as I was pulling my chair out, the chairs opposite mine made a loud scraping sound against the wooden floors as it was being pulled out too. I raised my head with a smile, but it disappeared almost immediately. Because there, in front of me, stood Kenshin, with Tomoe latched onto his arm.

The dinner went smoothly, if not a little quietly at our table. Another four people had taken their seats at our table and they were the ones who were talking most of the time. Although my gazed was fixed on my food most of the time, I could feel the tension at our table. And whenever I did look up, Tomoe would shoot daggers at me. I was so glad when they announced that we could leave our table and mingle with everyone else for a while before proceeding on to the dance floor, that I practically jumped out of my seat.

"You know, Kao-chan, I met that Tomoe girl at the store where I bought your dress," says Aoshi.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh really? What happened?"

"She wanted to buy your dress but I declined."

Now I understood why she kept glaring at me. Just then, a group of people came up to Aoshi. I bowed at them slightly and moved away, allowing them the privacy and space that they needed. Soujiro and Aoshi were nowhere in sight, no doubt, gone to flirt with some girls. As I stood in one corner surveying the crowd, a pair of warm hands covered my eyes.

"Guess who," he says.

I removed his hands from my eyes and turned around to face him. My eyes widened in shock and surprise.

"Sanosuske!" I squealed, throwing my arms around him, as he laughed.

"Still the little girl I know, eh?" he says, pinching me lightly on the nose.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, composing myself.

"Meet the future President of Sagara Corporations, Mr. Sagara Sanosuske," he says proudly, grinning at me.

"You?"

"Who else?"

"I didn't know you were that capable!" I laugh as he shot me a hurt look.

"By the way, where's Sou-chan?"

"Somewhere around here. Probably flirting with some girl. You know, Sano, you should cut your hair," I say, eyeing his long hair. He used to have rooster hair but he let it grow out and now it just look like a furry animal sitting on his head.

"No."

"But it makes you look like a girl!"

"No."

"Plus, it's practically covering half your whole face."

"No."

"And you're probably wasting a lot of money buying shampoos and conditioners."

"No."

"But yo—"

"No."

"Let me finish wha—"

"No."

I threw my hands up into the air and sighed. "Fine. Be that way." Just then, a slow song boomed through the speakers and people began pairing up to dance. Sano threw a sideways glance at me and raised his eyebrows while I inched away from him, slowly.

"No, Sano. No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"Come on, Kaoru. Just one dance. That's all I ask," he said, moving closer towards me.

"No! Let go," I muttered, trying to free my wrist from his grasp as he pulled me onto the dance floor. "Mou, I can't dance, Sano, and you know that," I mumbled, trying desperately to get off the dance floor.

In one swift motion he curved his arm around my waist and pulled me close. The fingers of my right hand held gently on to his left while my other hand rested on his shoulder. My whole body felt stiff as we started to dance, my feet constantly bumping into his.

"I told you I didn't know how to dance!" I hissed staring down at my awkward feet, my face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Don't look down," he said as we continued to sway. "It's easier if you keep your head up." He twirled me around a couple of times and I stumbled a little, trying to regain my balance. This wasn't so bad after all, I thought as I began to get the hang of it.

"You're doing pretty well for a beginner," he says, smiling down at me.

"I learned from the best, you know," I say, laughing.

"Well, that's quite true." He gave me a cocky grin.

Suddenly, somebody bumped into me from behind, making me stumble a little. I stopped dancing and turned around, only to lock gazes with Kenshin.

"Sorry," he says, shrugging his shoulders, then turning back to face Tomoe. I stared after them in utter disbelief, as Sano led me off the dance floor.

"I didn't know the ice prince and ice princess was here too," he say, handing me a glass of red wine which he had whisked off the tray of a passing waiter.

"Ice prince and ice princess?" I ask, cocking my head.

"Kenshin and Tomoe," he answered, winking at me and taking a sip of his wine.

Just then, his cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer the call. I stood there alone, taking small sips from my glass and looking out onto the dance floor. I didn't notice Tomoe making her way towards me, also holding a glass of red wine, until she was practically in my face.

"Hello, Kaoru. I wasn't expecting to see you here," she said, assessing me from head to toe.

"Yeah, well, I got an invitation from Uncle Kiyosato and I thought I might as well come since I didn't have anything planned," I answered in a cool tone.

"Well, just out of curiosity, where did you get the dress from? It looks positively hideous," she says snidely.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh really? Funny. My br—I mean, my friend claims that he saw you in the same store where this dress is from and he told me a very interesting story. He said that you were so desperate to get this particular dress that you even offered to pay more for it. I believe you've already met him too. He was sitting on my right throughout dinner just now." I could see the muscles in her jaw tighten dangerously.

"He got the wrong person," she answered tightly.

"Oh? Maybe I should call him over and ask, eh?"

She glared at me. "Don't mess with me, Kaoru, or else."

"Or else, what?" I challenged.

To my horror, she took a step backwards but at the same moment tilted her glass a fraction of an inch, causing red wine to splash all over the front of her white silk dress. Then, throwing me a menacing smile, she let out an ear-piercing shriek that reverberated throughout the entire room.

A/N if you didn't catch that, she spilt red wine on her self making it look like Kaoru did it.;; her evil scheme number three. i ran out of characters to do her makeup/hair so i decided to throw in shishio just for the heck of it.. if it really throws off the story tell me and i'll change it to someone else.

Next Chappie: Kenshin comes out of the shadow and experiences a small fraction of how harsh a Women's Battle can be. Want to see what happens when Kenshin finds out what Tomoe is truly like? What will happen to our kenshin who vows to never hit a female? Can he strain himself? How will Kenshin apologize to Kaoru?

Review Answers: i appricate all your reviews but i most people perfer me not to reply and waste space, so i will reply to questions in reviews only, but if u want me to reply just tell me, i'll give you a personal reply.

blooded wyngs: she didn't relaly have a date, but she'll pretend Soujiro's her date, but kenshin'll think sano is her date.

Anonymous but very interested : sorry about the confusion in POV. when i get the chance (in other words when i stop being lazy) i'll fix it. lol and no i don't drink anything but wine but no he doesn't have drinking problem just once in a while he likes to drink.. it's only a shot or two, for him it shouldn't be too bad, considering he grew up with hiko who lives on sake. the story will be pretty long, i'll say 25-35 chapters.

forever angel: i would love to tell you the matching, but i myself haven't decided. i will make them match up eventually but tomoe will destroy it and i haven't figured out the final matching yet.

JovianShe-Wolf: i'm hoping for a Kaoru and Kenshin as well, but if something really good pops up i may make it into another matching. but if you realy want to know, yes i think it will be KxK most of them time (can't say 100 they'll end up together).

kkfan: a lot of people asked me the same thing, why kenshin just randomly fell for kaoru... i'll put it in later chapters also but it was because she was the only one who had such high spirit and genuine. and all the other good things that will be explained later.